Mixed Reviews for ASEAN Stance on Maritime Dispute

Voice of America

10 August 2015

BANGKOK— The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is getting mixed reviews for its communique on the South China Sea issue.

The 10 member nations, at last week’s ministerial meeting and regional security dialogue, cobbled together, at the eleventh hour, a compromise statement on forging a binding code of conduct in the disputed waters – something ASEAN has been discussing for more than a dozen years.

“ASEAN tried very gingerly to strike a balance between the competing demands of the United States and of China. And the result has been the language in the final joint communique,” said Oh Ei Sun, a former political secretary to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Many in the region view any communique as better than none at all, which happened in 2012 when Cambodia was ASEAN chair.

… “ASEAN tried very gingerly to strike a balance between the competing demands of the United States and of China. And the result has been the language in the final joint communique,” said Oh Ei Sun, a former political secretary to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

… But ASEAN members also cannot afford to alienate Beijing “because of China’s explosive growth which is leading the economic development of the region,” said Oh, who is also a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

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